Camping

This weekend Nick, Mochi and I, went camping with Caresse, Tyler, Lisa, Sterling and Pico.  Yeah, yeah.....I know.....I went camping.  It was actually a lot of fun.  It turns out that camping is way more fun than I had originally thought.  The only camping I was familiar with, were Nick's million mile hikes where everything has to fit in your backpack.  This was CAR camping.  You get to bring whatever you want!

We stayed at Pinecrest Lake outside Sonora.  Caresse, Tyler, Nick and I left on Friday after work.  We nearly ran out of gas - I think we were down to 2 miles before we finally found a gas station.  And then we couldn't find dinner.  But we eventually made it to the campsite just in time to setup our tents and have a few smores.

We spent Saturday at the lake.  Pico was a champion swimmer!  Mochi tried too.  He would walk into the water up to his chest.  Nick wanted to make him swim so he carried him into the water.  I guess Mochi's 6th sense kicked in.....he could "feel" the water and started paddling in mid air.

Nick finally dropped him in the water and he started swimming like a champ.  He always b-lined for the shore, but at least he wasn't a sinker.

Nick finally dropped him in the water and he started swimming like a champ.  He always b-lined for the shore, but at least he wasn't a sinker.

One little tid bit of info about Nick.  He's a flashlight nazi.  I couldn't find my flashlight before we left.  He wasn't helping at all and I was getting really frustrated.  Then he says, "B, here's the thing.  When we were little, dad wouldn't let us use the flashlights.  He said our eyes would adjust.  So it's been ingrained in me since I was little."  I found the flashlight (And I used it).  But don't worry Steve, it doesn't run off of batteries, it's one of those windup kinds.

Good Stuff

So I guess I missed the entire month of June.  No worries, nothing too exciting happened in June.  Nick, Mochi and I went home for the 4th of July.  It was Mochi's first trip on an airplane.  Let's just say it could have been worse (although it could have been a lot better).  We'll keep practicing in anticipation of Christmas. 

It was a fun 4th at the Loper's lakeside abode!  Too many burgers and people to count.  Mochi

 had a blast and made all sorts of new friends.

Once we returned home, I was off to Shreveport LA.  My project for the last year and a half was a flight test unit.  The unit was getting loaded onto a B-52 in preparation for the drop.  Lisa and I got to get into the cockpit and turn the plane on.  Sweetness!

Then, we were headed to Vegas - for 24 hours.  After our stint in Vegas, we were headed into the middle of no where to watch our unit get dropped.

Here we are making a stop at the A-Le-Inn (get it?).

The drop.